In the last ten years the term known as “spamming” has become a little more undefined since sharing content is an important factor with using social media.

Since the increase in sharing has occurred one must still be aware of what spamming looks like and how to differentiate between someone sharing something with you and someone who is spamming you.

What is Spamming?

Spam, the electronic version, can come in various forms, one way spam is sent is through bulk unsolicited e-mails, sent out to the masses without true relevance to who you are or what interest it may have for you. Although spam is widely known for it being sent via e-mail this is clearly not the only platform it appears on anymore.

How to rid Spam from my Blog

Blogs are all too often attacked by the spam monsters of the Internet and fortunately there are plugins that can help bloggers to protect their blogs by separating real connections from spamming garbage. Some plugins you want to install to keep spamming comments from appearing on your blog are Akismet, Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin and WP-Optimize to name a few. As always I highly suggest approving comments prior to them being posted.

What does Spam look like on Social Networks?

As social media has evolved spam has leaked elsewhere and is now easier to report more than ever, but this does not mean you should abuse the authority or report people who truly are not spamming so here is what to look for on your social networks to know if someone is spamming you.

If you receive a Facebook email that is bulk and does not pertain to you that is associated with an unknown link, prior to removing yourself from the email, report the person as spam, since this is unfortunately many ways spammers will try to get people to click a link, besides the spamming factor this too can be unsafe.

Spam is showing up in newsfeeds as well, whether on Facebook or Twitter, however reporting this way becomes a lot more difficult since people are also choosing to advertise with the social sites, therefore, as long as you are not tagged or mentioned, this is the grey area you can ignore.

However, if you are tagged or mentioned be sure to report them for spam, especially if you have nothing to do with what they want to sell. Many will include an unwanted link in a bulk tweet, again with the bulk. Or will tweet you directly with just a link or a blunt form of advertising copy, this too is spam.

Spam shows up as people too or those pretending to be one, these are the worse kinds. When you receive a new follower, prior to following back check their profile and see the types of tweets they send out, often a spammer is obvious and will send the same repetitive link out to several people, remember that is usually unsolicited, non-informational and has nothing to do with you besides a form of someone being able to send a suspicious link, report them.

Instagram seems to be getting hit a lot now with spamming in the comments section, people looking for a common interest and instead of creating a connection will comment “your dog is so cute you should feed him 123foods4dogs [link]”. That too is a form of spam and is worthy of a report, since you will see that message appear again and again.

Anyone sharing information that pertains to your interests and that have formed some type of relationship with you is not spam. You have to remember that if anything is sent to you by someone you know or are connected with that have taken time to build some type of relationship with you is going to share links but if you are truly paying attention to your social communities the likeliness of it being spam lowers.

Social media depends on our actions and that includes keeping our online environments clean, we need to tidy up our communities by ensuring that spammers are reported and allow social networks make the ultimate decision, but since social networks are growing fast and gaining in numbers they need their users to be good model social citizens and that means if you really want social media to remain sharing quality information you need to prune the weeds sometimes, bite the bullet and report the spammers.

Remember to be sure it is spam (it is usually obvious) prior to reporting and when you know, understand that spam usually consists of a scam and reporting is necessary to keeping our social communities, social and not spammy.

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+Erin Ryan is a writer for various Social Media & Tech blogs and currently works as the Director of Social Media for the Internet Marketing Company, Wikimotive. Erin has a keen understanding of the power of Social Media for business and fervently stays up-to-date.

About Erin Ryan

+Erin Ryan is a writer for various Social Media & Tech blogs and currently works as the Director of Social Media for the Internet Marketing Company, Wikimotive. Erin has a keen understanding of the power of Social Media for business and fervently stays up-to-date.
Creator and head editor of Socialeyezer She enjoys finding the latest in social media, tech and geek culture. Erin often expresses her thoughts and opinions on TheErinRyan. Connect through Erin Ryan's About.me Profile
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